In the jury’s commendation, Gianenrico Griffini, representing 25 international truck trade journalists, highlighted the advanced features of both projects, their significant contribution to hub-to-hub and intermodal transport automation, and the successful collaboration between MAN Truck & Bus, logistics providers, component suppliers, research institutions, and public infrastructure operators.
The award not only signifies a notable achievement for ANITA and ATLAS-L4 and their collaborators but also acknowledges the dedicated work of all MAN colleagues who have been driving automated driving initiatives with expertise and passion.
Dr. Frederik Zohm, Executive Board Member for Research and Development at MAN Truck & Bus, emphasized that alongside digitalization and CO2-free drives, autonomous driving stands as the third key pillar in the transformation toward climate-friendly, safe, efficient, and intelligently networked transport for the future. MAN aims to offer autonomous trucks in series production for defined routes between logistics hubs by 2030.
The utility of autonomous trucks, particularly in hub-to-hub transport on motorways, lies in their ability to enhance safety by mitigating the risk of fatigue-induced rear-end collisions. Additionally, they contribute to energy efficiency and stabilize logistics flows, independent of individual driving time breaks. Moreover, the deployment of autonomous trucks can address the shortage of drivers by reallocating them to more diverse and appealing tasks in regional and distribution transport.
“In the ATLAS-L4 project, we are developing autonomous driving on the motorway specifically for the hub-to-hub use case. We are using the framework of the law on autonomous driving passed in Germany in 2021, which already allows the use of driverless lorries on defined routes with technical supervision. We want to test a corresponding prototype vehicle on the road by the end of 2024,” says Sebastian Völl, Project Manager Autonomous Driving at MAN Truck & Bus.
MAN recently conducted an investigation into the incorporation of autonomous trucks within logistics hubs as part of the „Autonomous Innovation in Terminal Operations” (ANITA) research and development project, in collaboration with Deutsche Bahn, Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, and Götting KG.
This initiative, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, aimed to explore the seamless integration of self-driving trucks into terminal operations. MAN developed an autonomous lorry specifically designed for container loading from road to rail, facilitated by digital mission planning.
Following six months of practical tests at the DB Intermodal Services container depot and the DUSS container terminal in Ulm, it became evident by the project’s conclusion in September 2023 that the autonomous truck exhibited up to a 40% increase in productivity compared to conventional vehicles. This promising outcome underscores the potential of autonomous technology in enhancing the efficiency, predictability, and flexibility of environmentally friendly combined road and rail freight transport.